Resume

29 January 2014

My nephew loves my crafting supplies, but he can not have them. To make him feel better , I made a treat bag. Today over at Stampotique Designer's challenge blog, we have a great new challenge called : Winged things.

The main image it's called Baby Cthulhu , rubber stamp from Stampotique. If you want to play with us , please use your Stampotique stamps and join us over at SDC. Stay warm and have a wonderful day!

24 January 2014

It's my turn to share a creation for Whiff of Joy blog. You know. I love making cards , but sometimes I like to change the shape of the card to something more interesting. I made a telescope card. Sounds complicated , but trust me , this is very easy.

As you can see, you only need three circles: large, medium, small , to create the base of this card. Use brads to connect them.

20 January 2014

Welcome to the January Whiff of Joy Blog Hop! This is our first one for 2014 and we are starting off the year with a sweet, romantic theme. If you didn’t come here from Marion's blog, then head on over to the start of the hop at Whiff of Joy Blog. I don’t want you to miss a single stop on this hop!

This month, Whiff of Joy is releasing heart-warming rubber stamp images along with some awesome mixed media collections and sentiment sets. We are sure that they are going to suit your Valentine stamping needs perfectly. Our die-lights for this month compliment our romantic theme and we know you are going to love them as well as our with our new charm sets!

This month, we will be giving away 1 rubber stamp and one die from this release to one very lucky winner. The winner will be drawn from those who have left a comment on each of our DT blogs and the Whiff of Joy blog. At the end of the hop, go to the Whiff of Joy Blog, let us know that you have left a comment at each stop of the hop by using the inlinkz tool and you will be entered for a chance to win! A complete list of the hop is also at this blog, just in case you get lost along the way!

The hop will remain open until midnight Wednesday January 22nd CEST. Winners will be announced on the Whiff of Joy Blog.

But before we check the other blogs, have a look at my creation. I made a heart post notes holder. This is just perfect for your mini desk or just for a cute display in your room.

18 January 2014

I’m Maria Sabina Raita, a young woman, born and raised in a small Transylvanian town in Romania called Alba Iulia. My family background is quite extensive but crafty in different ways. My mum, as child, liked to draw but once she got a job and later on married, that was just a lost dream. However, she still enjoyed making handmade embroidery and she continues even now with her crochets. My dad is also a crafty man, but ‘crafty’ in a different sense of the word; he’s actually a plumber. I’m the youngest in our family, with one older sister and three older brothers. My sister enjoys crocheting various clothing items for my nephew. My brothers are in the same line of work as my dad.

I was born in June but I love spring and dislike cold weather. I have been drawing since childhood. I often hear these funny stories from my neighbours, “Remember when you were outside and drew on stairs with chalk, and the neighbour above your apartment told you to go home and draw there?’’ To be honest, I think I was way too young to remember this.

I started going to school and the art class was pretty busy. Most of my classmates would come to me to draw their work because they couldn’t do it, until the teacher noticed and moved me into the first set.

I would make all kinds of things for my friends when I was around 14. I even got paid for making a mini wallet in the 8th grade. I wasn’t very good at other subjects. Luckily I had Art and Sport class to make me feel better. My geography teacher once asked the class about what we wanted to do in the future, and where would we like to study. My answer was really short: I wanted to draw and create things. She was pretty annoyed with my answer and replied, “Art will not bring you any bread on your table’’. I heard this way too many times, but that only made me more determined. Once I passed my final exam, I applied to the local School of Fine Arts ( High School). High school was ok. I got what I wanted and I applied for the Painting / Graphic class, which was very enjoyable. Our small group was very funny, talented and always did some silly things at school. But was drawing and painting enough for me? I loved making my own jewellery, so I, along with my high school friend, decided to buy some jewellery supplies to sell to the general public. We managed to get our own blog and sell some of our handmade jewellery. With some more help from our Info teacher we had a mini exposition. I really enjoyed making the jewellery but is that enough? I love paper and I loved making small cards and different paper crafts. At that point I wasn’t really aware of the international card and paper crafting community, until I watched a video on Youtube. I had a million questions running around in my little brain! What’s that machine? Why do you need so many tools to create a simple card? Well, if you know me then you’ll know that when I have an idea, I must do it in the next minute! But I had a big problem: how could I buy these special supplies from my little town? Impossible…

Once I’ve finished High School I decided to take a sabbatical year in order to reflect on what I want to do for the near future. I was confused and had no plans, until my brother invited me to visit him in Spain and told me if I’d like to try and work as baby sitter for a while. I accepted the challenge and didn’t know what it was going to bring…until I got to meet the family: it was a couple who had three babies. They were actually 2 months old triplets! It was a long and difficult job, since I work 24/6 and did most of the work. I have no regrets because I learned a lot of things and really loved being their nanny. Despite the busy routine I still managed to find time to research more about scrapbooking and paper crafts. I saved as much as I could, and made a list of the supplies I needed. During my time off, I’d go in town with my brother to local shops and look for different paper supplies. I managed to get a paper trimmer, a pack of black cardstock, a white gel pen, crafty scissors, glue, glitter and a regular ink pad. Once back home I had the time to search more and get more information. This is just the beginning of my journey. I saw all these different crafty videos on Youtube , sharing their supplies and tutorials , so I decided to upload my own videos. Trust me looking back I realise how ‘poor’ my collection was. But hey , this is how it works when you don’t have the source and knowledge about something so big in the USA.

I finally decided to do and give it a try. I created my blog: Lollyrot Scrapbooking and my lollyrot07 Youtube channel. I was afraid that this will not work. But you must have confidence and do what makes you happy. With the help from many people I got so far…I can only name the ones that really were there for me to share their passion. The first person that started supporting me is my ex-boyfriend who got me some crafty supplies. I also met in real life a talented person called Meda from Romania who showed me how the Cuttlebug really works. That was the time when I had so many questions about this magical machine. With the blog active, I started getting comments and made some crafty friends. Ar, Debra, Debbie, Anna, Laura, Lia and Chelsea. These are just some of the people that really were there from the beginning to share their kindness and some of the great supplies that I couldn’t find in Romania. I’m still very grateful to these people. Of course, there are more people, but the list is too long. I’m grateful to each and every one of you for being with me on this journey.

With more supplies in my small craft corner I finally got the courage to apply to a Design Team. The first ever Design Team was Stampotique. A great small rubber stamp company from the USA. At the beginning everything needs small steps. I was excited to discover things myself and with this beautiful community so I started getting more involved. From small giveaways, tutorials, blog posts, challenges; they all helped Lollyrot Scrabooking work.

Working for so many companies and I had the opportunity to see what I like and didnt like. I enjoyed creating for each and every one of the past Design Teams/ Guest Design spots and other small crafty activity. With the amazing help and generosity from Stampotique, I had the opportunity to have my own stamp collection called ‘Zara’ created in the memory of my beloved rabbit.

At the moment I have the pleasure to design for some of the most amazing companies in this community. I design for a wonderful crafty magazine, I create lovely projects for different brands and I feel happy! But is this really enough? I would love to continue this journey and make it my full time job, but many people still ask me if this will bring you the bread on the table. Well my answer is: maybe not, but I feel happy. Any hobby takes a big sacrifice and you must do what makes you happy and stop living for the amount of money you keep in your pocket. You live your own life, your own dream. If you have the motivation, courage and talent, then do it!

I would like the near future to bring more inspiration for me and you, a craft studio, workshops, meeting all the crafty friends one day at the one and only CHA .I want to smile and make myself proud of who I am now….tomorrow… in the next 50 years.

Thanks for being here today, reading this and for giving your attention for a few minutes. It means a lot to me and I can only do it with your support.

For this card I used the I heart you Maya digital stamp from Whiff of Joy. I really love charms, so I used a key charm from Whiff of Joy. The sentiment is from the Brithday Phrases stamps set from Whiff of Joy. This card would be perfect for a Birthday or for Valentine's day, if you actually celebrate the holiday! You can always check out the Whiff of Joy Blog for more inspiration.

17 January 2014

Before I start talking about my creation today, I'd like to thank you ALL for being here. I can not belive we are now over 1000 on my Facebook page, over 3400 on Youtube and 600 here on this blog. WOW! I'm really excited and I feel really lucky ! Thanks a lot! Means a lot to me!

16 January 2014

I'm back with a new creation and also with some news. Today is the first day of Whiff of Joy January Release. You will get to see creations using dies, stamps and charms. Beautiful products!

For today I made a card using the beautiful stamp Owl Love you Dearly and the sentiment is from the Magic Moments stamps set both from Whiff of Joy. The banner is called Heart Banner and again this is from Whiff of Joy. Another product that I really love is the Pearl Brads- Yellow Basics from Whiff of Joy!

Please visit our Design team and Whiff of Joy blog for more inspiration. More projects coming up soon. Don't forget to come back and keep an eye on my blog. NEWS coming up!!! Have a great day!

15 January 2014

What a beautiful and happy day! I can say that my head is up in the clouds! Such a happy day! Today is not just a happy day. It's time for a new challenge over at Lia Stampz blog . Our theme for you is: Color Scheme. Please check out the blog for more details.

I made a tag , using the color scheme. The main image is a digital stamp called Charm from Lia Stampz.
To make this blog post even more interesting, I have some news! Check out Lia's blog for more details. You will all love it!

10 January 2014

How to: Put some water into a pot and let it boil. Place a bowl inside the pot, making sure the bowl is not touching the water. You only need the steam . Inside the bowl add your egg whites and sugar. Beat the egg whites until they are glossy and hard. Now you can take the bowl off the heat and add the coconut flakes . Use a silicone palette to incorporate the coconut flakes into the mixture.
Use a plastic bag to put your mixture and start decorating each biscuit. Finish off the biscuit with some melted chocolate and chopped walnuts.

08 January 2014

For the very first time I had American cookies! OH MY ! They are DELICIOUS! So this is something new to me but something goooood! I also made a tag to go with the cookie bag. I used the Tree 2 sided stamp from Stampotique to create the leaves of my handmade flower.

Take your Stampotique stamps and play along with us! Have a wonderful day!

07 January 2014

Christmas is gone, so I'm seriously waiting for Spring. But until then let's make a cute paper clip using some paper flowers. This is a quick and easy project but very cute. I used I AM roses flowers : LY1-79 / R19-78 and D1-79.

01 January 2014

Let's kick the New Year with some great news! I've been asked to be part of the amazing I AM roses design team! How wonderful is this? Today I have a calendar , I made for the challenge: Use white flowers.